Saturday, October 21, 2006

I don't blame you or Dad, or his genes; remember I am from the same gene pool. The main culprit is the culture. The problem has to do with you and Dad only to the extent that you are unable to diagnose him properly, due to your inability to see that it is larger, cultural problem. This doesn't mean he's not personally responsible. If anything, he's even more culpable for allowing the culture to convince him that nothing is his fault.

Also, all of these New Age self-help groups that you keep sending him to are useless. You don't look within yourself to figure out the problem, you look without. You take interest in outside things, not in yourself. Join the Taliban, or the Young Zionists of America! Pan for gold in Mexico, or join the Church. Or get an internship with Auntie Chris at Carpetland. Getting lost in the labyrinth of the self will only perpetuate the problem.

Second, you say "he needs to learn to have fun without drugs." No, he needs to learn that the pursuit of "fun" is a waste of energy. Fun is crap. I don't have any fun, but I prefer it that way. Kant said that the end of life is not "happiness" or "fun," it is "fullness," which is related to moral virtue. You don't need to have any fun to have fullness.

I only see things getting worse, since neither he nor anyone else around him seems capable of properly diagnosing the problem.

is a collaborative web journal founded and edited by Beholdmyswarthyface and Sally Suzuki. It focuses primarily—but not solely—on modern Japanese culture, history, and literature. Of miscegenated and common birth, Beholdmyswarthyface grew up in Phoenix, AZ, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Tokyo. He currently teaches literature at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies 名古屋外国語大学.